Thursday, 16 January 2014

The Eye Unseen - Brand New Horror From Cynthia Tottleben

No wonder The Eye Unseen won Journalstone Publishing's 2013 Horror Novel contest. This gripping novel will have you on the edge of your seat from page one - and keep you there.I asked author Cynthia Tottleben to give us some background to her motivations for writing this unique story. Here's what she said:

As a lover of all things creepy and
horrific, I personally am not afraid of dark spaces, monsters, aliens, or even
rabid dogs. I do, however, have a lingering fear of giant killer bunny rabbits
left over from a B-movie I watched when I was but six years old. Not something
I’ve shared with a lot of people, but at some point in life we all have to come
clean. This is my moment.

I can’t tell you the title of the film. Nor
anything about the plot, except that the rabbits must have been in a rural area
tormenting farmers while they tried to sleep. I relive my childhood horror each
time I visit my aunt’s house, when the quiet countryside is bathed in darkness,
and I have to brave the walk from my car to her front porch with nothing to
stave off the vicious bunnies but the little lamp leaking a path of light
across the yard. Thirty-seven years after watching this movie, I still hesitate
when gripping the door handle, my heart leaping a bit in my chest, as I scan
the blackness for the horrible creatures I know it hides.

This is what I hope to achieve as an
author.

Not to terrify young girls, but to skulk
around in someone’s mind for decades. To
make the most irrational thought- that the sweetest creatures roaming my aunt’s
yard will eat me as I sprint to the safety of her house- a complete and utter
truth. Because who’s to say it isn’t?

In THE EYE UNSEEN, I play with this concept
and layer delicious delusions through a thick sauce of insanity, which I like
to feed my readers raw. My two main
characters, Lucy and her mother, Joan, struggle with madness. They each
approach it from a different direction. But they also share commonalities, such
as their interaction with the same redheaded man, that cement their story on
the last bit of good road just north of the abyss. Perhaps neither of them are
crazy after all.

Perhaps everything they experience is
reality, naked and screaming and vicious as it is. And like the cute rabbits that torment me
thirty-seven years later, I hope every time my readers encounter a chicken they
stop and take a second or third look at it and wonder, will I wake up and find
you in my room? Where will you be hiding? And what will happen if I eat you for
dinner????

And I can vouch for it. Those chickens of yours really were scary! Thank you for being my guest, Cynthia.

Now here's a taste of what to expect from The Eye Unseen:

Lucy Tew's life is a labyrinth of darkness. She has no food, no water,
and a mother who can't wait to test her axe on Lucy's neck. Locked in
her room for weeks on end, with only her dog Tippy for companionship,
Lucy faces hours stacked like corpses as days dwindle to little more
than watching corn wither in the fields and animals stir within it. But
they aren't the only ones aware of Lucy's predicament. Inside the house,
the very walls come alive as Lucy flounders with sanity. A stranger
appears to lead Lucy through her darkest days, but is he the savior she
craves? He revels in the turmoil that shadows him. His old relationship
with her mother will soon rekindle. And his name is so obscene, no one
dares utter it. Except for the one that calls him Father.

2 comments:

Wonderful book, and an even more wonderful author. I have read many stories that, six months - six weeks - heck, six DAYS later, I could barely tell you what happened in the story other than generalities. This book is so incredibly haunting that it will follow me for many months - years - into the future, if not the rest of my life. Cynthia Tottleben has managed to reach out from between the covers of the book and grab the reader by the throat and not let go. Disturbing, wonderful, and thought-provoking writing.